Electronic video poker games have been prevalent in gaming casinos for many years. A forerunner of electronic video poker gaming machines is the video Draw Poker machine that deals cards from a standard fifty-two card poker deck and displays a single five card hand to a player. The cards may be dealt based on an electronic shuffle or a random number generator. The player may choose to hold or discard each of the initial five cards that are dealt. For discarded cards, replacement cards are dealt using the starting deck of cards. After replacement of chosen cards from the initial five cards that are dealt, the remaining five cards comprise a player's final five card hand. This final hand is then analyzed based on conventional poker hand rankings. For example, if the player has achieved at least a pair of Jacks or better, the set of cards may be a winning hand. The amount of a player's winning may be determined based on a type of poker hand achieved and an amount of a player's wager.
In video Draw Poker, the conventional poker hand rankings that are winning combinations are a Royal Flush, a Straight Flush, a Four of a Kind, a Full House, a Flush, a Straight, a Three of a Kind, a Two Pair and a Pair of Jacks or Better. A payout table is established based on a number of coins wagered by the player and a type of poker hand achieved.
Some video poker games have modified the classic Draw Poker game to use Jokers, Deuces, or other cards as wild cards. “Jokers Wild” and “Deuces Wild” Draw Poker still display to the player a single five card hand and allow the player to discard unwanted cards and receive replacement cards. The payout table is modified to recognize the differing odds for achieving various poker hands when wild cards are involved. Furthermore, different poker hand rankings are used in the pay table to recognize different winning combinations that can be achieved using wild cards.
However, conventional methods for electronic pokers games use random number generators and electronic shuffles to conduct the initial deal. In addition, traditional electronic poker games do not result in a winner for each game. During each game, the player may win if the player's final hand is one of the selected hands for payout, or the player may lose if the final hand does not result in a hand selected for payout. Conventional electronic poker games also are not games of purely chance (they involve some level of skill), and they are not played against other players (they are played against the “house”).